The Department of Finance has approved plans for the second year of the Farming With Nature scheme in NI, a committee of MLAs has been told.

In a briefing at Stormont last Thursday, Manus McHenry from DAERA confirmed that a total budget of £9.3m has been allocated for Farming With Nature in 2026/2027.

He said the funding package stems from £7m for delivering agri-environment measures on local farms and £2.3m for DAERA to administer the scheme.

“When you take that all together, the money to the farmers, the money to manage the scheme and administer it, that reaches the total value of funding,” he said.

McHenry told MLAs that when compared to the first year of Farming With Nature, the upcoming tranche has been “broadened, strengthened and simplified”.

While there was limited discussion about scheme measures and payment rates during last week’s meeting, it was confirmed that 14 actions will be available this time round.

It compares to six actions under last year’s scheme, namely planting new hedges and trees, 2m and 7m riparian buffers, multispecies cover crops, and winter stubble retention.

“In addition to those actions currently available, the new actions include establishing arable margins and herbal leys, as well as managing habitat created in year one,” McHenry said.

Other changes in the second year include removing the £2,500 minimum annual claim and increasing the maximum claim limit from £9,500 to £20,000.

Eligible

Unlike the first year of Farming With Nature, farmers with an active Environmental Farming Scheme agreement will be eligible to apply for the new scheme this year.

Grant funding for additional measures, such as fencing and gates, is available when carrying out certain actions under Farming With Nature.

However, McHenry said that payment rates for these “supporting items” will be unchanged from the first year of the scheme. Devina Park from DAERA said the department had been “criticised” in the past for providing too much funding for fencing under agri environment schemes.

“We wanted to be sure that, under Farming With Nature, we fund protective fencings, where they are absolutely necessary to protect the environmental asset being created or managed under the scheme,” she said.